Subject:The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:EthanMon11/22/05 at 2:10 pm

After my show last week, 2nz, his cousin Steve, and me (sorry if that's bad grammar) were discussing Amiright and the potential that it has. Mainly, that a lot of writers here are better parody writers than most professional parody writers, but for some reason they're making money off of parodies and we're not. I believe that part of the reason is publicity. Not too many people with any sort of power in the worlds of radio and advertising, which are the two areas parodies are best suited for, know about Amiright as far as I know. It would also take an extraordinary amount of effort to weed through the less well-written parodies to get to those that could potentially bring in revenue for the author and others. One potential solution to that is the creation of another sister site to amiright. One with only high-quality parodies that someone with money might want to buy. Updated weekly with, and this is a rough estimate tha could be off by about a dozen either way, a couple dozen per week. But who is to decide what deserves to be on this "elite" site? Should any one person hold that sort of power and responsibility? My opinion is no. I think there should be a revolving group of about ten people who have proven themselves to be experts regarding parodies and loyal to this site, who take turns approving parodies. There would be a limit of one entry per week per author, and each week would have a theme to make it easier for people to find what they're looking for. Some themes I have in mind are: parodies of current hits, left-wing political, right-wing political, sports, celebrities, promoting a pre-existing products, and "dirty" I know there are plenty of legal, promotional, and technical issues that will need to be worked out before this can happen, but what does everyone think so far?

Subject:Re: The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:Arwenon11/22/05 at 2:42 pm

I guess it's your prerogative if you want to put a site like that together...

...but I would like to know how someone "proves" themself to be an expert regarding parodies. Making that call is just as subjective as choosing which parodies are "high quality." Every one of us knows what we like. I feel like I'm an expert...because I really really really know what I do and don't like. If you don't like the same things, however, you wouldn't consider me to be an expert, right?

If you want to start a new site, and you want to limit what is posted there according to what you think is worthy...that's fine. But I don't think...and this is my opinion only...that you can create it as a sister site to AmiRight in any diplomatic way.

What do you say?

"This is the site were the GOOD stuff is...Amiright is just crappy to mediocre."

Why would anyone want to support that? I think that Amiright is FABulous...every bit of it...the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I wouldn't want my parodies on an "elite" site. This is all for fun. And if there are people out there who want to make money writing parodies, that is great...I think they should do the leg work to make it happen.

If you think creating this other website would do that for you...more power to you...but I, for one, wouldn't want any part of it. I think it's just a recipe for hurt feelings and animosity...and we already have enough of that here.

Subject:Re: The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:ChuckyGon11/22/05 at 3:03 pm

I have to agree that to make an "elite" site would tend to lessen the quality of stuff already on amiright.

I think radio stations would be more interested in stuff that is already recorded. Not having to do the work of recording a parody is probably worth something to them. It'd be easier to judge the final result and they could air it as soon as they get a copy, without having to do all the intermediate steps. I also question whether radio even wants full parodies. I'm willing to bet, the small fragments that target a well known part of a song (usually the refrain) would be far better.

The best judge of what radio would buy, is someone who works in radio picking songs to air. If there was someone who worked in radio and wanted to pick what he thought he could sell to a radio station in exchange for a cut of any royalties, that would probably be of value to people. I'm not sure the price would be high enough for someone willing to do that though.

I do ocassionally get requests from people to republish a parody in a newsletter, magazine, whatever. But since I don't ask for contact info when people submit parodies, I have no way to pass that along. I usually tell the person to look for contact info in the comments or else post a message here or on the parody itself.

If people stated in their comments they were open to having it recorded, or republished in print, there might be more visibility to people who could use them in a commercial environment.

Subject:Re: The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:EthanMon11/22/05 at 3:22 pm

I see your points, but I think you missed, or misunderstood, some of mine. By no means do I mean to demean amiright with this - all pre-existing parodies approved for this proposed site would remain on amiright, and new ones could be simultaneously be put on amiright and this new site. Also, approval wouldn't be about whether I, or anyone else judging for the week, especially liked it but whether it was competently written and fits the theme. Even if someone has a different opinion than me concerning what constitutes competence, that's fine. Anyone who has gained the respect of a large number of the site's regulars probably fits my criteria for "expert".

With people only allowed to submit one song per week, and the existence of themes, I think there will be high-quality parodies in general and not much need to reject anything that the author worked hard on.

If done right, it should create much more interest in amiright.com than it takes away.

Subject:Re: The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:EthanMon11/22/05 at 3:27 pm

"If people stated in their comments they were open to having it recorded, or republished in print, there might be more visibility to people who could use them in a commercial environment."

This might be more useful than anything i've suggested

Maybe we should work on that... one step in my case is figuring out how to get the profile editing program to work for me, since the old one doesn't because of my name change.

Subject:Re: The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:Red Anton11/22/05 at 3:28 pm

I was typing a reply and hit preview and noticed Arwen's post. I agree 100% with her.

I don't write parodies to make money though I suspect maybe a handful I've written could net me a small sum of money at the local hard-rock station if I spent a couple of grand on my own professional level recording equipment.

ChuckyG has very good points as well. Most parodies I've heard are not complete, but only the funniest part of a very popular, very new song. Last one I heard was making fun of R Kelly's "Trapped In The Closet pt 1" by incessantly repeating the "closet" lines.

Anywho, I make these for fun and am happy to have the priviledge of a free site on which they are hosted.

Perhaps what you are looking for would be a 'cache' of SOTM/ABC winners displayed on AmiRight's front page. SOTM/ABC is where most of the better parodies wind up anyway.

Subject:Re: The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:Arwenon11/22/05 at 5:50 pm

If done right, it should create much more interest in amiright.com than it takes away.

How so?

Subject:Re: The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:EthanMon11/22/05 at 7:08 pm

There's no support for it anyway, so that doesn't matter

But chucky had some good points

Subject:Re: The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:K1chydon11/23/05 at 11:36 am

There's no support for it anyway, so that doesn't matter

Hey, don

Subject:Re: The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:ChuckyGon11/23/05 at 11:56 am

Hey, don

Subject:Re: The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:2nzon11/23/05 at 3:04 pm

Hey, don

Subject:Re: The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:K1chydon11/24/05 at 1:04 am

Yeah, good idea. That would make it so all the authors interested in strutting their best stuff in one place on amiright could do so in an organized way. It also avoids weeding through works that aren't necessarily yours and subjectively choosing which ones are 'the best'. Those interested could promote their stuff, and could point anyone interested in their talent to their own personal top-ten list. It seems fair to me.

The only thing I'd disagree with is the minimum of 100 parodies, partly because it would exclude me, and partly because it would shift the focus back to numbers to show an author's merit here on the site. The number of parodies an author has should be celebrated as an achievement of that author, but that's not the only thing that determines how much of a figure they are here on the site. I guess what I'm saying is: "Please make it possible for bums like me who don't have 100 yet (and don't want to force out another bunch just to get there) to get into the club".

Once a hardcore Star Trek fan I should have suggested 47! 8)

I was primarily thinking along the lines of minimizing the amount of extra work for Chucky. Your argument makes a lot of sense though so now I

Subject:Re: The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:ChuckyGon11/24/05 at 8:59 am

Once a hardcore Star Trek fan I should have suggested 47! 8)

I was primarily thinking along the lines of minimizing the amount of extra work for Chucky. Your argument makes a lot of sense though so now I

Subject:Re: The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:2nzon11/24/05 at 1:48 pm

I always figured people would use their bio to point out their best work, but since it takes me so long to update them sometimes, maybe I should write something for the authors to update their best work themselves.

Subject:Re: The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:agrimorfeeon11/28/05 at 7:57 am

Agreed on keyword searches and individual author's "best of" lists.

Most radio stations that I listen to never play an entire parody or novelty song, unless it was the station or radio hosts' own production.

As you bring up Christmas Chucky, I want to bring up that a Christmas parody category (separate from "MISC.") should be added.

Subject:Re: The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:Spaff.comon12/04/05 at 6:53 pm

professional parody writers

I'm not convinced that there are many of those around, Ethan. From the evidence I've seen, parody writing is just a hobby, or maybe an extension of a radio job; it seems it's always something ELSE that pays the bills.

But I'd love to see you prove me wrong.

xoxoxSpaff

Subject:Re: The Vast Potential of Amiright - idea for new site

Written By:jreubenon12/05/05 at 8:31 am

I'm not convinced that there are many of those around, Ethan. From the evidence I've seen, parody writing is just a hobby, or maybe an extension of a radio job; it seems it's always something ELSE that pays the bills.